1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the art of multi-component handles which may be assembled without using adhesives, and more particularly to handles for tools and implements such as hair styling brushes, other brushes such as paint brushes, tools, such as garden tools, and the like. In its illustrated and most preferred form the present invention relates to a handle for hair curling brushes which may be assembled without the use of adhesives and in which one of the handle components is adapted to receive a first end of an elongate, cylindrical, metallic hair curling brush body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A large number of implements in a large number of art areas include a handle to be grasped by the user. For example, hair styling accessories such as curling irons and brushes, paint brushes, tools, sporting goods, cookware and utensils, industrial equipment and many other devices include grips or handles to make use of the implement safer or more efficient, or to make the implements more attractive.
Exemplary of such prior art devices are hair curling brushes. Prior to the present invention, one popular style of curling brush includes a cylindrical, metallic brush body, brush bristles and a handle, the handle including a core, a bellows and an elastomeric outer covering attached to the core with a liquid adhesive. The bellows has been commonly included in recent brushes for aesthetic reasons and because the "feel" of the handle is improved if a portion of the handle yields under normal grip pressure to conform somewhat with the hand of the user.
Practical and economic problems exist with this design and in its assembly. From a practical standpoint, adhesives can lose their effectiveness over time, allowing components, or portions of the components, to release from one another. This problem is especially pronounced in devices, such as the hair curler described above, which is typically heated by a blow dryer held in the opposite hand by the user. The heat transferred from blower to brush body is detrimental to the adhesive bonding system, resulting in accelerated failure of the adhesive bond. The economic problems are caused by the time required to apply an adhesive during manufacture, equipment costs and, in some cases, by the costs of air pollution control equipment required for plant safety and for compliance with applicable environmental laws, rules and regulations.
Heat is also encountered with a number of other types of implements having handles or grips, such as the heat generated in cleaning devices such as dishwashers, or the heat which can build up during warm weather in storage buildings, such as lawn tool and garden sheds. Moreover, the practical and economical difficulties mentioned above for the curling brush are also present for these other products if a liquid adhesive is used to bond different pieces of a handle together.
To provide an inexpensive, reliable and widely adaptable technique of securing together multiple pieces of a handle for such tools and implements, to avoid the above-referenced and other problems would represent a significant advance in the art.